Lawyer questions administration on WCP
E-mail correspondence between Herbst, Haynes raises concerns
Lauren Sudekum, Senior Staff Writer
Issue date: 4/18/06 Section: Front Page
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Timothy Matune, a 1981 alumnus of the WCP and lawyer from Youngstown, Ohio, recently requested more than 1,000 pages of documentation relating to the future of the WCP.
In a letter Matune forwarded to, among others, Herbst; Carolyn Haynes, director of the Honors and Scholars Program; and Allan Winkler, chair of the Winkler Committee, which was advisory to Herbst regarding the future of the WCP; Matune outlined problems he sees apparent throughout the Winkler Committee's deliberations as well as problems in Herbst's recommendation to President Garland.
Matune's letter outlines four main areas of concern in regard to the transparency of the process.
First, Matune said Haynes was involved in the process of drafting a recommendation for Herbst although she was not a formal member of the Winkler committee.
Her written views and ideas, some of which appeared in the Winkler Committee's recommendation to Herbst, were not attributed to her.
Matune cited an e-mail from Winkler to Haynes dated Feb. 20, advising her to, "… just say we've talked a bit …"
In the same e-mail, Winkler said, "Please don't acknowledge that this exists, or talk about it."
Matune said he believes the "it" referred to by Winkler is Haynes' "Presentation to Ad Hoc Committee on Western College Program."
Winkler however, said the e-mail was taken out of context and Matune's belief about it's meaning is untrue. Winkler said the phrases Matune isolated were in reference to his desire to have the committee come to its own consensus.
"I had talked to Carolyn previously on the phone and I wanted to make sure that the committee came to their own consensus," Winkler said, "not just accept anything that they had heard."
Haynes offered her take on the issue.
"(I was) asked to contribute a set of ideas for a possible merger of the Honors and Scholars Program and the Western College Program for discussion by the Ad Hoc Committee … in February after the committee had independently adopted the idea of a Western Honors College for serious consideration," Haynes said.
